The console was amazing for its time but long after it was relegated to peoples garages and cupboards those joysticks lived on as the absolute best you could get for gaming on 8bit machines like the commdore 64. They were indestructable and while at first they were very stiff and awkward, over time you broke them in and they came into their own, allowing to be more aggressive with a joystick than anything else on the market before that or since.
Ah the sensible soccer tournaments we had using these, watching the competition pro joystick lovers fall by the wayside as the atari stick users just kept going, pulling off intricate plays accurately every time with such force.
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Greatest joystick of all time
PlayMessiah.com was going to release wireless Atari 2600 controllers but I think they are canceled. I haven't seen any updates for them on their website in a while...
I found that the bottom left corner of the joystick's 'squarish' base dug into the palm of my left hand. I would have a backwards 'L' shaped mark that lasted for days!!
Someone needs to put out brand new replica controllers! I dug out my 2600 but the controllers are stuck one way or another and its a disaster. Atari new parents could only handle one button which is why Nintendo knew they could only handle one waggle. With Wii Tennis, they swing away. Wii Golf on the other hand, "which one is B? which one is A?"....
Greatest joystick for a home system, hands down! Indestructible, maybe not. At least you can still find replacements places like eBay. I still prefer using the original 2600 joystick to any other, even the controls on modern systems.
indestructible? I beg to differ. I 'destructed' at least a dozen of these controllers. As soon as pacman became unresponsive to a quick twitch in a given direction, the end was near... probably 6 months on the average lifespan.
Loved the systems. (My sister had the 2600, I had the 800XL)...but the joysticks were no match for the fervor of youth.
Loved the systems. (My sister had the 2600, I had the 800XL)...but the joysticks were no match for the fervor of youth.
